


fathomless

by ndnickerson



Series: nothing else but this [9]
Category: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Genre: 69 (Sex Position), Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Bathroom Sex, Cunnilingus, Dirty Talk, F/M, Married Couple, Married Sex, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Pregnancy Scares, Reunion Sex, Reunions, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:54:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22693645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson
Summary: Ned receives an unexpected guest at the Omega Chi house, and his relationship with Nancy goes through a shift.
Relationships: Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson
Series: nothing else but this [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/216326
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter is set pre-series; the second, around the timing of all the stars afire.

_Ned vividly remembered Nancy's voice shaking when she had told him her period was late, years before, when he was still at Emerson._

"Hey. Ned?"

The rain was sheeting down around the Omega Chi house, and the occupants were subdued, mostly. In the dining room, at the long table that became an impromptu study hall between meals, the insistent drone of the afternoon rain was like white noise, an audible cushion damping everything else.

Ned glanced up from his seat at the table, from the lecture notes he was reviewing. He could see Howie through the doorway, in the kitchen. Parker was standing near him, in conversation with Alan, but he glanced over to where Howie's gaze was pointed and stopped mid-word. "Shit," Parker muttered.

"What is it?"

Howie just pointed.

Something about their tone had Ned pushing his chair back with such force that it scraped loudly against the already-battered hardwood floor. Impatiently he made his way to the kitchen door, where another window looked out.

A woman was walking slowly toward the Omega house, and she was utterly drenched from head to toe. Her shoulder-length hair was sodden, and the heather gray Emerson Athletics t-shirt she wore was soaked through. Her wet jeans clung to her like a second skin. She wore no raincoat, carried no umbrella, and seemed to be a million miles away, completely unaware of the rain pelting down on her.

Ned wrenched the kitchen door open and sprinted the distance between them, all the time watching her face with a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, but she never looked up at him. "Baby, what's wrong?" he asked, pitching his voice louder to be heard over the roar of the storm overhead.

She was moving so slowly, too slowly, and the possibilities were terrible and quick to line up in his head: _poisoned, kidnapped, in shock._ This close, he could see she was trembling, that her lips were tinged a faint blue. Of course. A cold front had swept through with the storm, and she had to be freezing in those clothes.

He scooped her up, and she didn't make any protest at all. He carried her as quickly as he could back to the Omega house, and didn't feel the cold as his now-sodden, muddy sandal soles slapped against the kitchen linoleum. He could feel their gazes on him but didn't give a damn as he carried his girlfriend upstairs.

_Warm. Have to get her warm._

One of the perks of being an upperclassman meant having his own en-suite bathroom, one that was outfitted with luxurious bath sheets. Ned carried her there, feeling her shiver faintly against his embrace, and gently placed her on her feet before twirling the handles in the shower. A pounding almost loud enough to drown out the rain started immediately, and Ned reached for her shirt.

Finally, after what felt like an agony of waiting, Nancy's gaze met his.

In the few aching heartbeats of his panic, Ned didn't know what he had been expecting, but he saw fear in her eyes, and his own widened.

"You need to warm up," he said, without moving toward her again. He held her gaze, trying to make sure she understood him. "Hot shower okay?"

She blinked once. Her eyelashes were matted together, darkened by rain. Then she nodded and looked down.

She didn't react as he stripped her clothes off. He heard the muted _thunk_ as her car keys, still in her soaked jeans pocket, hit the floor, and realized she hadn't been carrying anything, not a purse or an overnight bag, for her surprise visit.

The water was almost too hot to endure. Ned gritted his teeth as he adjusted the temperature, then guided her into the shower. The hot water pounded against her fair skin, turning it a dull shade of dark pink. Ned turned away after he saw her chest rise and fall with another breath, stripping off his own wet clothes and briskly toweling off. She would need something else to wear, once she was warm and dried off.

He returned to the bathroom with some clothes she had left during a previous visit. She was seated on the lip of the tub, a towel wrapped around her and tucked under her arms, her head bowed. Only once she looked up and his gaze locked onto her face did he realize she was crying. He hadn't been able to tell before.

Ned went cold for a second and knelt in front of her. "Hey," he said quietly, his palm covering her knee. "It's all right."

At that, her head bowed again, and he heard her sniffle.

Ned swallowed and rose to sit down beside her, then wrapped his arm around her shoulders from behind, pulling her toward him. She didn't resist at all. He saw a few tears track down her cheeks, her neck, her collarbone. Every part of him wanted to beg her to tell him what was wrong.

"Sorry," she whispered, a few minutes later. His hand was rubbing her upper arm, but he had left her alone otherwise.

"I'm sorry too."

She sniffled again. "Let me get dressed," she said, her voice clogged from her tears, and dragged a hand over her face. But instead of rising, she bent double, and he could hear her gasping for breath.

Ned rubbed her back. "You're scaring me," he admitted quietly. "I want to help but I don't know what to do."

She sniffled. "That makes two of us," she replied softly. She gave herself a little shake and drew herself up again. Her face was red, her eyes swollen from her tears. "Can you just give me a minute?"

Ned tried not to pace after he left Nancy in his bathroom, but it was impossible. She opened the door and stood there with her hair falling in damp waves, wearing a pair of compression leggings and one of Ned's t-shirts. The fabric had been washed soft, and it swallowed her whole.

Their gazes met and she didn't smile. Ned's heart sank beneath the floor.

She crossed the threshold on bare feet, releasing a sigh. "I," she began, and then her gaze dropped. He saw her set her jaw and look up again. "Can we sit down and talk?"

Her voice wobbled a little at the end of it. Ned nodded, busying himself by smoothing his comforter over his hastily-made bed, tossing a few discarded clothes into the hamper.

They sat down there, with Nancy looking down at her hands, limp in her lap. Ned opened his mouth a few times, but giving voice to any of the fears that had been multiplying ever since he swept her up outside... nothing she had said or done had given him any glimmer of hope that this was going to be an easy conversation.

"Is it... something that happened during your case?"

That seemed neutral enough, and Ned had been on the other end of _that_ phone call enough times to steel himself for her excuses, her justifications, her insistence that another casual flirtation wouldn't happen again.

She didn't look up. Ned could hear her breathing, and realized he generally couldn't.

His heart managed to sink even further.

"Did you meet someone?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

She finally brought her head up. Her eyes were bloodshot, the skin around them puffy and pink. Her face was blotchy from crying. She seemed to be relatively calm, at least for the moment.

"No," she replied, her voice very gentle. "I didn't meet anyone. I... my period's a week late."

Ned's mind had already conjured up a hundred awful scenarios. He reversed his mental course, but doing so felt sluggish, like he just couldn't accept what she was saying.

The color in her face was deepening. Ned opened his mouth, but couldn't find any words, and Nancy buried her face in her hands and took another audible breath.

"I... I don't..." Ned swallowed and tried again. "Are you... saying..."

She uncovered her face and glanced up at him. "That my birth control failed?" She shrugged, glancing away. "I don't know. I mean, I know it's possible..." She snorted and sighed.

_Ninety-nine percent effective._ Well. That left one magic bullet in a hundred.

He reached for her hand, slowly, half-convinced she was going to just pull away. "Did you... take a... test?"

She shook her head, searching his eyes. "I guess I felt like that would—make it real," she replied, her voice cracking at the end of it, her face crumpling. She started crying quietly again, and Ned put his arms around her, drawing her to him. She moved onto his lap, into the warmth of his embrace, her head against his shoulder and her face buried against his neck. He stroked her back, murmuring nonsense, his brain frozen.

Slowly she calmed down, but she stayed pressed against him. Were this any other situation, he'd definitely be feeling aroused right now, but the enormity of it was staggering.

"So you don't know yet," he heard himself say, still stroking her back.

"I don't know yet," she confirmed with a sigh and a hitched breath.

"But..."

When he trailed off, unsure of how to say what he was thinking, she moved back to look into his face. Her expression was almost serene again. "I'm sorry," she whispered, reaching up to touch his cheek.

Ned gave himself a little shake. "For what?" he replied. "It's not like you... like you did this by yourself. And it's not like either of us expected this."

She nodded. "And I'm probably worried about nothing," she said softly.

"So it's normal for you to be a week late?"

She opened her mouth and closed it silently, glancing away a little, before she slowly shook her head.

Ned stroked her back again. "Do you want to go with me to buy a test? I can go by myself, if you want. Or..." He waited until she had met his eyes again. "Are you okay with that?"

She gave him a very weak smile. "So I can prove I'm worried about nothing," she said, but he heard the doubt in her voice, and the fear.

\--

The wait was the longest three minutes of Ned's life.

They had stopped on the way back to campus to pick up some sandwiches and fries at a drive-thru, and while Ned had finished his fries in the car, he hadn't been able to touch his sandwich yet. Nancy had eaten a few fries, but that was all. She was clearly agitated, and Ned couldn't blame her.

God. After dating her for so long, Ned had fooled himself into believing that he could anticipate the unthinkable. She had been poisoned, kidnapped, nearly killed so many times; she had been in so many dangerous situations, and he had somehow, at least a little, acclimated himself to that.

All that, and he'd never expected this. She was so extraordinary in every aspect of her life that _this_ , this almost mundane problem, had seemed impossible.

Nancy paced, glancing at the timer every five seconds, her arms wrapped tight around her. Her hair had dried some, but she still looked tense as a coiled spring.

When the timer bleated, Nancy's hand was already on the bathroom door, where she had left the test. The door rebounded off the wall, and Nancy muttered an apology as she hunched over the test.

Ned hung back. He was here to support her, and she might not welcome his presence, depending.

She glanced back at him, frowning, neither upset nor jubilant. "I think... come here."

Ned joined her at the bathroom sink, both of them gazing down at the plastic test. The illustrations for how to read it were on it: one line meant she wasn't pregnant, while two lines meant she was. No lines at all meant the test hadn't worked.

Well, he definitely saw one very obvious line.

"I think..." She reached for his hand and squeezed it. "I think we're okay."

He smiled. "We were always gonna be okay."

She rubbed her cheek with one hand, letting out an explosive sigh. "God. I feel like an idiot now."

Ned shook his head. "Don't. I would have been scared too. I _was_ scared too." He picked her up and held her tight, and she released a quiet, triumphant cry.

When he put her down, she laughed briefly. "You know what this means, right? Condoms, every time."

Ned groaned, but he was smiling too. "If we have to."

She dumped the test in the trash, then slid her arm around him and directed him to the door. "I don't even remember, I was so out of it—what did you order for me?"

"Turkey with lettuce and tomato."

"Mmm."

Ned glanced back at his trash can once before they walked out of the bathroom, back into his bedroom.

Then he gave his head a little shake. That other line had been so faint. Probably a shadow or a trick of the light, that was all.

\--

The Omega house was quiet, now.

The rain had tapered off, finally. The overhead fan was on, as Ned always liked it, and Nancy was under the covers with him, his incredibly warm, incredibly muscular body spooned up behind hers. His arm was draped over her, and even as she shifted, his grip tightened slightly.

God. What a close call.

Nancy blushed, the intensity of it deepening until her face seemed to glow, and she buried her warm skin against the cool pillow. Everyone in her life valued her calm rational approach, and she had never been _that girl_ , prone to dramatics and hysteria. All that had gone out the window when she'd realized how late she was.

All she had been able to decide about was coming here. She hadn't even packed a bag or told anyone else what was going on. Her lips quirked up in a sardonic smile. Her life was so unpredictable that when she had called a few hours ago to let Hannah know she had taken a spontaneous trip up to Emerson to see Ned, Hannah hadn't even realized she was out of place.

That faint second line had just been her anxiety making her see things. It wasn't dark like the example.

Everything was fine.

Nancy closed her eyes, a few last tears slipping from beneath her lashes. She and Ned weren't ready for a baby, and now she wouldn't have to make one of the hardest decisions of her life. Any hour now, her period would come. She was sure of it. There was no alternative.

She relaxed in her boyfriend's arms and drifted off to sleep again.

Her eyes were bleary and she was disoriented when she woke again. Then she realized what was different. Ned was crossing the room to the bathroom. He closed the door and Nancy rolled over. The back of the t-shirt Ned had let her borrow was damp with sweat, from being pressed close to him.

Ned returned to bed dressed only in his boxers, as he normally was, and Nancy took her turn in the bathroom too, avoiding looking at the trash can. She had scrutinized the directions, and the test was no longer valid, anyway.

When she felt a slight pang low in her belly, she was almost lightheaded with relief and hope, but her period hadn't yet started. Tears pricked in her eyes, but she managed to blink them away.

She paused in the doorway between Ned's bedroom and bathroom, gazing at him. He was on the side closest the door, on his back, with just the sheet tossed over him, covering him just to the waist. The faint light in the room barely defined his muscular chest.

Not so long ago, just being in his room with him like this, late at night, her breasts bare under his shirt, him waiting for her in bed—this would have been both unthinkable and deliciously tempting. Ned had been so patient with her, but he had also been eager for her and for this deepening of their relationship.

He had taught her what it meant, to make love. For her there could be no one else; for her, there would never be anyone else.

She slid back into his bed, pulling the sheet up over her, but as she moved back into his arms, she nestled her head against his shoulder and rested her palm just over his belly button. Ned made a quiet sound, and she heard his breathing quicken as she ran her fingertips under the elastic of his boxers.

"Mmm?"

She slid them a few inches down his hip, and glanced up at his face. His eyes were open and glittering as he helped her push his underwear down.

Nancy trailed kisses down his chest, her fingertips trailing gentle lines and spirals over his hips and his upper thighs, nuzzling against the trail that began under his belly button. She had done this a handful of times, and Ned liked to joke that she always needed more practice at it. At least, she hoped he was joking. After that first time, he had always seemed to enjoy feeling her mouth on his cock.

This time, though, he rolled onto his side. She glanced up into his face questioningly, and he searched her eyes for a minute before he rested his palm on the back of her head and gave her a little nod.

"If you want," he murmured, his voice rough from sleep.

She looked down at him, considering, and shifted her angle. His erection was jutting proudly, and she shivered a little. From previous experience, she knew just how incredible it felt to have him inside her. He had commented, that first time, that it was like they were made for each other, and he would know; he'd had other partners. Now, he'd told her, he was with the one woman who could ever truly be his partner.

She had her hand on his hip as she wriggled down the bed a little, then took the head of his cock in her mouth, and she felt him tense for a second. She still had to think about it, what he had told her to do, the way he liked it. At first, the strokes of her tongue against his cock, the gentle caress of her fingertips against the rest of his length and his balls, were tentative. When he murmured encouragement, burying his fingers in her hair without applying any pressure to her, she smiled and continued.

She had only managed to take him near the back of her tongue when he growled and rolled onto his back. She followed him immediately, rolling onto her knees so she could keep going down on him.

"Mmm. C'mere," Ned muttered, and she pulled back, her mouth wet, not sure what he meant.

Ned sat up, and after a swift move her head was still on level with his upper thighs, but her knees were on the pillow. He reached for her panties and once she figured out what he wanted, she helped him tug them down, then tugged her shirt over her head for good measure.

The short stubble on his cheeks and chin rasped against tender flesh as he buried his face between her thighs, and she moaned softly before figuring out what to do from this new angle. Once she had him in her mouth, it was a little easier to just keep sliding up and down as she caressed the base of his cock and his balls. She was on her side again, but the lower half of Nancy's body was twisted so her hips were practically on the bed, both knees bent and her legs open as far as she could. Ned's tongue was tracing over the slit of her sex, his fingers parting her so he could lick the sensitive, slick folds between, and she moaned against his cock as the tip of his tongue found her clit.

"Mmm," he murmured, and dragged his chin over it.

Nancy's hips bucked, and she sucked at the head of his cock, taking him as deep as she could. Her gag reflex meant she couldn't take him all the way to the back of her tongue or further, and she knew he would have liked that. She tried her best to make up for it, sucking and licking, pumping the base of his cock in her fist. With her other hand she played with her nipples, rubbing her thumb back and forth over each in turn, pinching them, tugging at them. Every swipe of his tongue and chin over her clit sent a bolt of pure pleasure through her body, and stimulating her nipples at the same time felt incredible.

"God, so good," Ned mumbled. He drew her clit between his lips and suckled hard, flicking the incredibly sensitive tip with his tongue.

Her hips bucked, and she gasped and moaned against his cock. The hollow between her legs clenched, seeking the thick length she was sucking. For a moment, she forgot herself, lost in the pleasure of what he was doing to her clit and what she was doing to her nipples. Then she began bobbing again, her whimpers vibrating against his cock as she mimicked the weak thrusts of her hips.

He positioned two fingers at her slick entrance, then worked them inside her, moaning against her clit as he felt her pulse and tighten around the penetration. His teeth glanced over the tip of her clit and she cried out, the sound muffled against his cock.

Ned came first, spending himself down her throat, and she licked his cock clean, panting, still grasping the base of it, the warm velvet over the hardness of his erection. She felt Ned gasping as he kept working his fingers in and out of her, and when she finally released his cock with a wet pop, her hips were thrusting, trying to ride his fingers.

Immediately he rolled her fully onto her back and pinned her under him. She arched, trying to quiet her sobs as she desperately fondled her breasts, rolling her nipples between forefingers and thumbs, her legs spread wide for him. His fingers were fucking her rapidly, and she let out a high, almost soundless squeal as he rubbed the sandpaper of his stubbled chin over her clit again. Then he soothed it with a few strokes of his tongue before suckling again.

She released a breathless scream, bucking wildly, her inner flesh drawing tight around his fingers and releasing in erratic pulses as she came. Her head was tipped back and she could still taste the salt of his cum as she gasped for breath, sobbing in pleasure and need as he kept suckling, drawing out an ecstasy that was already nearly pain.

Nancy finally slumped against his bed a few moments later, fully spent. Ned's fingers were motionless, curled inside her, and he gave her clit a few more gentle licks before slowly drawing his fingers out of her. Nancy groaned quietly, her hips bucking in one last gentle thrust, and then Ned was pulling her into his arms and they were naked against each other, and she couldn't care about how dangerous that was. She was still trembling from the force of her orgasm.

"That was... different," she managed a few moments later, once she was able to catch her breath. "Shit."

"Mmm." His lips brushed her temple; his palm was against her back, and his fingertips were rhythmically brushing against her skin, over and over, in small strokes. "Was it okay?"

"Yes. Definitely." She moved back a little to look into his face. "Was I okay?"

He grinned, then straightened, drawing her close to him. Between her legs still felt incredibly slick, and she gasped as he slid his knee between hers and ducked in to press his lips against her ear. "I think with a little more practice, you'll be incredible." Then, after a long kiss, after she tasted her own arousal on his tongue, he rolled over and headed to the bathroom.

She waited a moment, until her heartbeat had slowed to normal, and followed him there. He was rinsing his mouth out, and once he spat into the sink he took a step back for her.

She rinsed her hands, feeling a little self-conscious about being naked in front of him, even though he had seen her this way several times now. "Had you... done that before?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer. Almost reluctantly she met his gaze in the mirror.

Ned shook his head as she filled her palm with water to rinse her mouth out too. "Oral, yeah," he said, and she nodded. They'd had oral sex before they'd ever had penetrative sex, even though that wasn't what she had meant and he knew it. "But I hadn't tried that before."

Nancy glanced down as she spat into the sink. She palpably ached at the reminder of the girls he'd slept with before her. The thought of him with anyone else made her incandescent with jealousy.

"Hey." Ned wrapped his arms around him from behind, and she straightened, meeting his gaze in the mirror again. "You're the only one for me," he whispered tenderly, and pressed a gentle kiss against the side of her neck. "No one else matters."

She closed her eyes, leaning back against him, safe in his arms. Her need for him was frantic, especially tonight; it had to be the letdown from the stress of the past day, her terror at imagining another outcome. Ned would be an incredible father. It just wasn't time yet.

"You're the only one for me too," she whispered, her eyes still closed.

And if she ever lost him... she knew she would lose herself.


	2. Chapter 2

_Stopping by the store on the way home. Need some rocky road?_

Nancy smiled as she looked at her phone. When she was sixteen, she wouldn't have believed that her husband would know her _this_ well. He knew what she craved when she was sad, and when she...

Her smile faded as she navigated to her period tracking app.

She was five days late.

Her stomach sank lower than the floor. _It's not time yet._ They weren't ready yet. She had the timeline all figured out, knew exactly when she would stop taking birth control, and...

One of her co-workers said something to her in passing. Nancy brought her chin up and looked in that direction without seeing, without hearing. Her pulse was too loud in her ears, and she was starting to feel cold.

_Yes please._

\--

The variety of pregnancy tests available had multiplied since that rainy day, and Nancy stood in the family planning aisle, considering, trying to focus. Digital tests, early-alert tests... well, now she was in the late-alert window, so those didn't matter. Setting her jaw, she grabbed a twin pack, one digital and one rapid-result. She very nearly picked up a large bottle of wine, too, but decided against it.

_Fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck._

While she waited in line, she analyzed everything she had done and felt over the past few days. Had she felt like she was going through PMS? Yep. Any hint of morning sickness? Not really. She hadn't taken any medication that might interfere with her birth control in the past month, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

Ned was home before Nancy was, and despite the tension that was throbbing through her, she had to smile. When Ned wanted something, he handled it himself instead of whining for her to go pick it up. She was unsurprised to find him sitting on the couch with a large bag of tortilla chips open in front of him, an uncapped beer beside the bag, and dishes of guacamole and salsa within arm's reach. He had just finished crunching into a chip as she automatically deadbolted the door behind her, dropping her purse onto the small table beside their front door.

"Half-gallon of rocky road in the freezer." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, then scooped up some more guacamole with a chip. "Want some?"

She stepped out of her heels, leaving them at the edge of the entry, and collapsed onto the couch beside him. "Yeah," she accepted, and for a few minutes, the only sounds in their townhouse were crunching tortilla chips and ESPN.

Ned took a long pull off his beer, and Nancy eyed it, unsure whether she was jealous of him or nauseated by the idea. He turned to her, his expression neutral, his gaze warm.

"How was your day?"

"I'm five days late," she replied in a rush, her words so hurried they all smashed together into one.

Ned swallowed, once he had processed what she said. "I... thought you might be late," he said slowly, searching her eyes. "Did you..."

"Take a test?" she filled in, when he trailed off. A hysterical laugh bubbled up in her chest. She felt like she was back at Emerson, back in that room at Omega Chi, before everything between them had gone so terribly wrong. Looking back on those days still made her feel bittersweet, but this was far more bitter than sweet. "It's in my purse." She reached for the bag of tortilla chips again.

"Oh."

"Two of them, actually." She ate two tortilla chips. "I just can't fucking believe this."

Ned's hand found her knee. "It's not the end of the world. It won't be."

"I know." She ate another chip, then handed him the bag with a sigh. "Well. I'll be right back, I guess."

"Now?"

She stood and nodded. "Waiting won't change it," she said, trying to sound calm, but her voice shook a little.

He reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Want me to scoop you some ice cream to have while we wait?"

She smiled, just a quick quirking of her lips. "We can do that later." She gazed into his face for a moment, then bent down and kissed his forehead. "Love you."

"Love you too, sweetheart. Always."

Her hands were shaking from the second she set the timer, once the tests were lined up on the counter in the downstairs half-bath. Her heart was beating so hard from adrenaline that she could feel it. Ned was standing, and she gave him a brief, unconvincing smile before turning away.

"Want to sit down? Or do you need to pace?"

Nancy chuckled darkly. "God. Who knows," she muttered. She crossed to the refrigerator and looked inside, but couldn't resist checking the timer on her phone. God. These were going to be the longest three minutes of her life, again.

"Here." Ned crossed to her and reached for her hand, taking it in his and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Here. Just sit down for a minute."

They sat down at the kitchen table, and Nancy put her phone on its surface so they could both watch the tenths of seconds rapidly drain away, while the minutes didn't move. Then she sighed and looked up, lacing her fingers through Ned's. He was so remarkably calm, and he smiled again when she caught his gaze. 

She was often struck all over again by how incredibly handsome he was, but over the course of their renewed relationship and their marriage, he had become so familiar to her. Every curve of him, every variation, every expression. That fear of getting too close to him, of falling too deeply in love with him, had passed a long time ago. He was her best friend, and she loved spending time with him.

"Before," she said, and rubbed her thumb against the side of his hand, then met his gaze again. Her voice was soft, though adrenaline still sent a faint tremor through it. "The other time. You knew I was pregnant..."

He stroked his thumb against her hand too, weighing his answer. "I suspected," he admitted.

"I just didn't want to believe it." Nancy sighed. "And that other line was so faint."

Ned waited a few heartbeats before answering. "And it would have changed everything."

"Yeah." She looked down at their joined hands. "But it didn't."

His voice was very quiet when he spoke again. "So what happened?"

She looked up. He didn't look suspicious or accusatory, and the slight set of her shoulders relaxed. "I think I called you when it finally came," she said, and he nodded. "It was a little heavier than usual, at the beginning. When..." She didn't know how to finish, so she trailed off.

Then the timer went off. She tensed so quickly that it actually hurt.

Ned silenced it before she could pull herself together long enough to do it. "Whatever it says, we'll be fine," he said. "Right?"

She nodded, looking into his eyes. "I love you," she said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

"Love you too."

They rose together, and Nancy was surprised she wasn't visibly trembling from the adrenaline that was thrumming through her. Her hand would have been shaking if Ned hadn't been holding it. The tension became unbearable when she saw the two tests, exactly where she had left them.

It would be better, if she wasn't pregnant. But she had let herself dream about it now, had let herself hope that their plans would become reality, and she felt oddly superstitious. If their will had brought this into being...

_Not Pregnant_

"Oh fuck, God," Nancy stuttered, covering her heart with her free hand. "Fuck. It says 'not,' right?"

"Yes," Ned confirmed, leaning over it. Then he looked at the other test. "One line on this one. Nothing else. No... shadow."

She pivoted on the ball of her foot and sat down on the toilet seat lid with a thump. "Mmm," she said, covering her face, an odd ebullient mix of giddiness tinged with grief rising in her. She wouldn't let herself believe this was a bad omen, a sign of things to come. The third time would be the charm. The next time she and Ned went through this... it would be right.

Ned waited a beat. "Want that ice cream now?"

"Oh yes. Fuck yes." She brought her head up and gave him a genuine smile.

Still holding her hand, he leaned down and brushed a kiss against her temple. "Told you," he said softly. "We're fine. And when it's different, we'll be fine then too."

\--

By that Saturday, her period had come and passed.

Ned hadn't really considered that facet of being part of a married couple. He was around Nancy so often and so intimately that _not_ noticing her cycle would have taken intentional, concentrated ignorance. He recognized the changes in her, her habits, her clothes, and the way they changed when her period was over.

He wondered if it had been heavy this time too, if her body hadn't just been reacting to some unusual stress... but he had seen the tests himself. If anything had happened, that tiny beginning had been snuffed out quickly.

He wasn't altogether surprised to dream about an infant in his wife's arms, though, peering down into a tiny face, the swirl of conflicting emotions he felt as that echo of himself: pride, joy, panic, fear. He and Nancy would never be completely ready to have a child, but he believed what he had told her. When it did happen, and he had faith it would, they would be fine.

On Saturday afternoon, they were both preparing to go out together that evening with a group of friends. He heard the shower sputter to life behind the closed bathroom door, and his heart skipped a beat before he turned the knob.

Nancy stood, completely naked save the rings he had given her, scrutinizing her reflection in the mirror. She turned toward him and raised an eyebrow as he closed the door behind him.

"Thought we could save water," he commented, and she smirked in answer. Rightfully so. Under normal circumstances, their showering together was almost guaranteed to double the normal time. She watched as he stripped down to his wedding band, still maintaining eye contact with her.

Then she took the few steps to the tub and slowly bent over to turn the water off. She straightened just as slowly, returning to him with a small swing in her hips.

Ned raised his eyebrows.

"What? I'm saving water," she pointed out. Then, with a smile, her gaze still locked to his, she backed up against the countertop surrounding the sink and propped the heels of her hands on it. His gaze slid down, and all of him, especially his full erection, appreciated what the angle did for her breasts.

He took a step toward her. "No shower sex today, huh."

The smile became a very small grin. "Will you promise to bend me over and spank me?" she asked, and brought a hand up. He hissed quietly between his teeth as she cupped her breast and began rolling her nipple between her fingers; he saw the liquid shudder of awakening arousal as it trembled up her spine, quivering through her.

"Definitely."

"And then I'll wash your cum off my thighs and my cunt so you can eat me out after."

His cock jumped. "You don't really want to go out tonight, do you."

She laughed in wicked delight, fondling both breasts now. Her hips were moving in the shallowest thrusts. "Of course I do," she replied. "So we can get a little buzzed, come back here..."

"Fuck on the couch," he suggested, stepping forward. He grasped her hips and seated her at the very edge of the counter.

"Mmm." Her eyes were glowing. "Tell me more."

"What are you in the mood for, babe?" He caressed her silky, muscular outer thigh, then caught her behind the knee and hooked her leg up over him. He kissed her calf before reaching for her other leg. "Should I leave the clamps on the coffee table?"

She moaned, her lashes fluttering. Her nipples were pebbled and flushed; she was pinching the sensitive tips of her breasts. "Do it and I'll strip naked as soon as we're inside."

"Done." He stepped close, feeling her fingers pluck and tease her nipples, feeling the warmth radiating from her skin and her sex. "Wear the clamps and touch yourself while you deep-throat me."

She moaned again, a low promise that almost made him come right then. "Work my fingers up into my wet cunt and fuck myself while you watch?"

He tangled his fingers in her hair and she jerked when he tugged. "Fuck yes."

Then he dropped to his knees, burying his face between her thighs, and gently bit her clit. Her legs were still draped over his shoulders, and she sobbed in pleasure, her hips undulating as he licked and nipped and suckled. He glanced up to see her almost frantically kneading her breasts and abusing her nipples.

The musky scent of her arousal was strong, and she was panting, slick and eager and close to her climax, when he stood again. In his absence one of her hands darted to the join of her thighs, and she jumped slightly, crying out as she began touching herself, stimulating her clit as she pinched her nipple.

Ned took it all in, releasing his own moan as the head of his cock touched the entrance of her hot, silky cunt, as he felt how wet she was. The glide of his first thrust was incredible, parting tender flesh that enfolded him perfectly, stretching and caressing in welcome as his wife frantically masturbated.

Then he reached down and tugged her hand away from her clit, replacing her stroking with his own thumb as he sucked her finger into his mouth.

She released an anguished cry when he didn't keep thrusting, but she was so far gone that each stroke of his thumb against her clit evoked another, higher sob. His sucks against her finger provoked spasms in her cunt; when he released her hand and she went back to fondling both breasts, she matched her strokes to his, and her moans dropped deep and incredibly sensual.

"That's right, baby," he murmured against her ear, pressing close to her, opening her even wider for him, and she panted as her hips began to jerk. She couldn't thrust, but she was trying, her cunt rippling around him, her shoulders tensing as he circled and flicked his thumb over her clit.

"Fuck, _fuck! Ohmygod don'tstop don'tstop don't—_ "

She screamed, and as she broke he began to thrust, long, rough, matching his rhythm to his strokes against her clit. She arched her back and he groaned at the change in angle, the incredible feel of her, as they rutted together, both desperate, both drunk with need for each other. For an instant he felt her fingernails down his back; for an instant his teeth were glancing against the taut column of her neck. Her cunt gripped him, caressed him, and they both cried out as she shattered and he obeyed, following her, his hips thrusting shallowly as he came in stuttering spurts, spending himself deep inside her.

She mumbled something, then sucked in a sharp breath when his thumb glanced over her clit one last time. Her back arched again and he felt her pulse around him again, her body welcoming his seed.

"Fuck," they sighed together, and Ned chuckled as he slumped forward, his softening cock still inside her as she wrapped her arms around him. Her legs had fallen from his shoulders, at some point. Her skin was tacky with sweat. It was divine.

"We won't be able to do this once we have a baby."

"Mmm." She nuzzled against his neck. "Not often."

"And the clamps. All that."

"Date night. Babysitter." Her tongue traced a line up his neck. He shuddered in her embrace. " _Locked_ box for our toys."

He smirked and took a step back, sliding out of her. "Whenever it happens, we'll be okay," he said, meeting her eyes. "But, now... shower. And a little bit of spanking."

She stretched, her legs still parted, and he saw the slick trace of their joining gleaming on her skin. Then she slowly slid off the counter. He was entirely unprepared for the quick, playful slap she planted on his ass before she turned on the shower head again.

"Tag," she said, turning around with a sparkle in her eye. "You're it."

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally published elsewhere; if you enjoyed it, please consider leaving feedback!


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